IRLI sues for details on the Obama Administration’s Syrian refugee program

Press Releases

March 10, 2016

Holding the executive branch accountable to the rule of law

March 09, 2016

(Washington, D.C.) – On behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) announced this week that it filed a lawsuit (attached below) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking records from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding refugees arriving in the United States from Syria (Federation for American Immigration Reform v. Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Civil No.16-cv-00438).

Under U.S. immigration law, only those who face persecution on account of “race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion” can be admitted as refugees. U.S. refugee law does not cover those fleeing from natural or economic disaster, civil strife, or war. Similarly, U.S. refugee law does not protect people from general conditions of strife, such as crime and other societal afflictions. Syria is clearly engaged in a civil war. The Administration has stated that it desires to resettle in American communities 10,000 Syrians in 2016 with additional numbers coming in 2017. Through its FOIA request and lawsuit, FAIR is investigating whether the Obama Administration is complying with the requirements in law regarding refugee admittance. The information will also assist state governments wishing to put a halt to the Administration’s plan to take in “refugees” whose background-checks, motivations, and ability to assimilate are highly questionable.

IRLI Executive Director, Dale L. Wilcox, commented: “Even after the Paris terrorist attacks where Syrian refugees were implicated in the massacre of hundreds of innocent people, the Obama Administration maintains its plans to import thousands of Syrians, many of whom could have similar motivations against Americans.” Wilcox continued, “The American people who are forced to house these so-called ‘refugees’ are understandably concerned, both for the safety of their communities and for the sanctity of our immigration law.”

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